Insurance Executives Profit By Inciting Murder Occasionally Paying Killers

Over the decades or centuries for profit insurance companies have paid millions of dollars to people that committed murder for insurance money; and there are hundreds of people killed every year in the hopes of collecting more. The information to support this conclusion is public, although the media declines to report on the vast majority of it; and when they do they report it as one isolated incident after another, without reporting just how often it happens!

Coincidence or not the media is collecting an enormous amount of money in advertising from insurance companies; and, as I reported in another recent article, they also have interlocking boards of directors and other financial ties to the insurance industry.

I first reported this in Life Insurance and media companies are encouraging lots of murders which included a partial statistical review of the murders listed on Murderpedia, where I found more that one and a half percent of their entries at the time were related to insurance, but it was clear that this was incomplete and that it could be as high as six to eight percent of their entries that had an insurance incentive to commit murders. I didn't search further until recently and quickly found enough additional entries to put the figure over two and a half percent minimum; and I found them so quickly that it's virtually guaranteed that the total will be at least three or four percent if I did a more thorough search and it could still be as high as six to eight percent.

I also found dozens of cases where they paid out claims to people that were later implicated in the murders, including at least four over a million dollars, and more just below that. Obviously, if the insurance companies or the government knew they would be implicated right away these claims never would have been paid, but these cases weren't solved right away, and in some cases they weren't even recognized as murders, initially.

In many cases the only reason they were re-investigated is because once they got away with murder and collected insurance for it they did it again; and in some cases, especially in the nineteenth century or early twentieth century they kept on doing it, becoming mass murderers for insurance money! If many of these people were smart enough to quit while they were ahead after killing only one, or in some cases two people and collecting their insurance they never would have been caught; and there's no way of knowing home many other people were smart enough to quit while ahead, which means there are virtually guaranteed to be more cases that have never been exposed.

As I reported in the previous article about this subject, when they first started selling airline life insurance, there were close to a dozen mass murders where planes were blown up by people trying to collect insurance. Little or nothing was done to inform the public about this problem or how they prevented it from continuing; but it appears that the insurance companies voluntarily stopped selling insurance at machines at airports with no legislation in most states, except Colorado, which was where many of the victims from one of the planes that blew up came from.

Since the insurance companies are controlled by some of the wealthiest people in the country, and they share the proceeds with politicians and media outlets, they have an enormous amount of clout; and, whether you call it a quid pro quo of not, there's little or no discussion about how to minimize the incentive to kill for insurance or to study how often it happens. If anything, instead of passing disclosure laws to make it easier to study this, they pass proprietary information laws to keep data secret so it's more difficult to study it and figure out how to minimize this. However simply by comparing murder rates to Europe, where they have a stronger safety net and more regulation along with better child care, education and health care, it's clear that heir practices are working better.

Even if there's not much more than three percent, and Murderpedia over represents the total percent of murders related to insurance claims, it's virtually guaranteed that there are still over two or three hundred people killed each year partly as a result of the incentive provided by insurance pay-outs, even if the vast majority of them don't get away with it; however there's no way of knowing for certain how many there are, since many of the one exposed, that did pay out, weren't even considered murder, some as a result of poisoning or perceived accidents or natural causes. A more likely estimate is that there are at least four or five hundred people killed each year, partly as a result of the insurance incentive, and possibly over one thousand.

This doesn't mean that the incentive from insurance is the only contributing factor in many if any of these murders; however it is one of them and often the deciding factor, although it's difficult if not impossible to tell exactly, when looking through all these cases. In most cases the person committing murder also comes from an abusive upbringing and there may be other contributing issues; however the same people that don't cover the insurance incentive adequately aren't covering how poverty, early child abuse, income inequality, abandoned inner cities, untreated PTSD after wars based on lies, gambling and many other issues contribute to violent crime. In many cases, like gambling or the military industrial complex the media and political establishment also have conflicts of interest when reporting on them as well, since thy also have ties to these industries as well.

One simple solution that would greatly reduce the incentive to kill for insurance would be to explain the fundamentals of insurance to the public so they would understand it better and realize that sale should be kept to a minimum and only use to minimize damages when a disaster strikes, possibly considering a more rational safety net for all instead of the promise of massive payouts in what seems like a get rich quick scheme. The reason this isn't considered is that the entire industry is based on deceptive advertising leading consumers to believe that it's a solution to everything, but once they try to collect they often find out the hard way that something in the fine print means they won't get much if anything when a disaster really does strike and those that know how to rig the system wind up with all the money, especially those that own the insurance companies, although their scams are considered legal under the law, which is written by politicians collecting their campaign donations.

The basic principles of insurance is that it's pooled risk, which means that everyone puts a small amount in to the pool of money to pay claims then when a disaster happens those in need collect from it; however expenses have to be subtracted first, and in the case of for profit industry so do profits which aren't available to pay claims either. Once you understand this principle it should be obvious that the average consumer rarely ever get's their money's worth since the most efficient system is bound to cost at least 15-20% of the total amount collected for one bureaucratic expense or another, but few if any systems, especially for profit insurance are that efficient, which means the average consumer isn't likely to get more than fifty to sixty cents on the dollar they spend on insurance; and if some are scamming the system then those not in on the scam get even less.

If you asked for change for a dollar and only got forty to fifty cents you would be outraged; but that is essentially what happens with insurance.

They tell us that competition makes this system more efficient; however they don't compete by being more efficient; instead they compete by coming up with more deceptive advertisements and the more they spend on advertising the less they have for claims! So this is one industry where competition makes the product less efficient; but it's virtually impossible for consumers to get accurate information about insurance.

The more you think about the expenses that come from the pool of money used to pay claims the more obvious that it is how inefficient our current system is, and that we should buy as little insurance as we can get away with assuming that we buy any at all. The person selling you insurance gets his commission, which isn't available for pay outs; the money insurance companies pay on advertising isn't available for claims; the money to lobby against single payer health care comes from your premium dollars, and so much more. Multi million dollar compensation packages for CEOs aren't available to pay claims, the money murderers collect when they get away with murder isn't available for claims.

As I reported previously in For profit insurance has an incentive to betray people after disasters! and insurance agent investigating a fallen tree tree trying to save on claims sent photos of their flowering plant to police who responded by detaining them for hours before determining that the plant wasn't marijuana but a hibiscus plant. They were of course sued along with the insurance company, and the money the insurance company spends on this lawsuit and thousands of others isn't available to pay legitimate claims!

If you look up any given insurance company and check to see how often they're being sued, either by checking their Wikipedia page or googling them among other means, they all spend an enormous amount of their resources, which come from your premium dollars in courts or paying out settlements. The money they collect from your premium dollars could and often is used for legal expenses to deny your claims! If you Google past disasters like Hurricane Katrina or half a dozen more each year you'll find one lawsuit after another going to court instead of paying claims.

They spend enormous amounts of money on ads to convince you that your covered for this that or another thing! However, if they keep all these promises how can they possibly make enough money to spend a fortune on executive pay, return for stock holders or lobbying against single payer?

They can't of course!

Our entire insurance system is a scam and it's providing a massive amount of incentive for people to kill each other or burn down houses and fake car crashes, which often also lead to deaths!

Then if you want someone to help stand up against the powerful insurance companies there's always plenty of lawyers advertising about how they want to help you out; however where is the money for their ads coming from; and what's their motive?

They want to get rich too; which means that they have an incentive to only take the cases they think they can profit off of, often by settling quickly and quietly, which almost never happens with large pay-outs. Michael Cohen and Keith Davidson have demonstrated that it's not unprecedented for two lawyers, who in this case wind up on opposing sides, supposedly, to be working together for the benefit on one client while pretending to defend others. It's unlikely that many lawyers are quite as obvious as them but many of these lawyers supposedly taking on the insurance companies might be inclined to settle them as easily as possible to maximize their own profits, even if it isn't in their clients best interests, which could mean that they're just adding one scam to another with consumers getting little or nothing!

As I reported previously in For-Profit Insurance is Government Authorized Crime Syndicate many of the people involved in these insurance scams are those selling the insurance or lawyers representing professionals which according to recent reports includes Michael Cohen, who was also exposed representing clients staging crashes for insurance!

On top of all the money consumers lose from a fraudulent insurance system we also have to pay out an enormous amount of money in court costs and to keep all these people in jail for life, which is what insurance companies consider a "negative externality" since they don't have to pay these expenses.

And many of these cases aren't fully solved or there are often major doubts about the outcomes possibly sending the wrong people to jail or continuing to let people get away with murder. As I reported previously, one of the victims was a famous politician from Nevada, Kathy Augustine, who previously collected on her husband's million dollar insurance policy then married his caretaker, who was later convicted of killing her; and there's good reason to believe that she might have been involved in her previous husband's death.

Another examples is when De'Marquise Elkins was convicted of killing a baby in a stroller in a very controversial murder where the daughter of Sherry West said "The night her little brother Antonio was killed, Glassey says West was already asking her about collecting life insurance money, and that her story has changed." there was a lot of suspicion that Sherry West, who had major emotional problems of her own, possibly similar to Susan Smith, might have arranged to kill her own son for the insurance money. The main witness against De'Marquise Elkins claimed he testified "for my conscience,” however he already "collected $2,000 and (would) get another $8,000 (reward money) if Elkins and Lang are convicted." De'Marquise Elkins had a violent history but a close look at this case raises major doubts about it even without legal expertise. If they needed to blame someone for it the police would have been smart enough to pick someone that had a bad record.

This of course sounds like a fringe conspiracy theory however as Jen Roesch pointed out in The making of a racist travesty 07/31/2013 there are an enormous amounts of problems with this case. It's hard to imagine that the insurance companies would want to be involved in the cover-up of something like this; however the publicity for a case like this could be incredibly bad for their reputation, especially since as I pointed out in Killing Kids For Insurance Is Semi-Routine, which also mentions this case, there can be no justification for selling insurance for babies, and there have been over a dozen other cases where babies were killed for their insurance.

News reports don't say whether or not Sherry West actually collected on this policy; however, since they convicted Elkins, justifiably or not, it's virtually guaranteed that they did. If they hadn't they might have been sued drawing attention to the case, which would have been bad for sales, if the media reported that they paid it that would also have outraged people, so one way or another they avoided any media reports either way, perhaps helping it fall down the memory hole while they conduct business as usual, until the next child is killed for insurance, assuming they can't keep that out of the news.

Also, Helaine Olen and Chuck Jaffe both pointed out in reviews cited in previous articles this is an incredibly obvious scam even when the babies aren't killed for insurance money!

A single payer system for health care as well as a better and modest safety net for everyone that didn't pay out massive amounts of money to a small number of people, along with better child care education and other programs that prevent violence from escalating from an early age would be far more effective at minimizing these murders than our current system! Unfortunately the people controlling the system are making massive amounts of profits off it while it's the rest of us that have to pay the price for the enormous amounts of violence that it incites.

The best, and simplest, way to minimize losses from lapsed insurance policies, is to never buy them in the first place!

The following are over three dozen cases where scam artists or murders successfully collected money for insurance before eventually getting caught; this includes at least four or five cases where they collected more than a million dollars, more that were close to it and a lot that were for much smaller amounts which make it seem petty, but that's little consolation to the victims; there are also a handful that are collections for other types of insurance but a murder was also involved; and a further search is virtually guaranteed to turn up hundreds more where this came from:

Police Investigate ’03 Death After Charge Against Nurse 10/03/2006 Mr. Higgs and Ms. Augustine were married three weeks after the death of Mr. Augustine in 2003, and the newlyweds received $1 million from his life insurance policy.

Kathy Augustine's Family Outraged About 48 Hours Mystery Show 05/23/2007

Charles Augustine's Death Ruled Natural 05/01/2007

But They did find the metabolite of succinylcholine, succinylmonocholine. (Forensic Files 2010) Narrator: A metabolite means it's a by-product of succinylcholine. If you don't look for it, you don't find it. And that's not a condescending answer. That is the truth. Narrator: There has never been a documented case of succinylmonocholine produced as a result of embalming fluid. However, in Charles Augustine's case, there were no records of which embalming fluids were used. So, this possibility, however remote, could not be eliminated. Therefore, the medical examiner did not change the manner of his death to homicide.

Black Widow Murders Helen Golay and Olga Rutterschmidt were convicted of the murders of two vagrants Before their arrest, Golay had received a total of $1,540,767.05 in insurance proceeds from McDavid's death, and Rutterschmidt a total of $674,571.89.

Wife accused of cold-case murder used insurance payout for lavish trips 08/15/2017 She collected a cool $1.4 million insurance payout and made regular jaunts to the Turks and Caicos Islands after killing her coffee-bar-owning husband in Manhattan in 1996, authorities say.

3 Accused of Murder in a Plot To Get $1 Million in Insurance 1989 Mr. Hanson was believed dead until mid-1988, when the police in California discovered that he was not the man who had died in Dr. Boggs's office. The discovery and the fact that Mr. Hawkins had cashed $1 million in life insurance checks prompted the authorities to seek Federal warrants for the arrests.

Feds to seize $5 million in life insurance proceeds linked to murder of housekeeper in Colleyville Dec. 2016 (Policy wasn't paid but may have been illegally issued contributing to the motive for the murder) Charlies Mercier, an insurance agent in North Augusta, wrote five life insurance policies for Anita Fox totaling $5 million in 2007 and 2008, the affidavit said.

Daughter of Mother Whose Baby Was Killed Says Mom May Have Killed Him for Life Insurance Money 03/29/2013 "The night her little brother Antonio was killed, Glassey says West was already asking her about collecting life insurance money, and that her story has changed."

De’Marquise Kareem Elkins convicted of killing a baby in a stroller March 21, 2013 Earlier, the man who tipped Brunswick police to 18-year-old De’Marquise “Marky” Elkins and co-defendant Dominique Lang, 15, as suspects, testified that his conscience led him to act, not the reward. “I didn’t do this for the reward money. Can I say this? Whoever had the guns to shoot a baby... I’m doing this for my conscience,” Argie Brooks said. He has collected $2,000 and will get another $8,000 if Elkins and Lang are convicted. Lang, who testified that he saw Elkins shoot Antonio and his mother, will be tried separately.

Lynn Turner killed two people March 3, 1995 / January 22, 2001 Her husband, police officer Maurice Glenn Turner, 31 / Her boyfriend, firefighter Randy Thompson, 32 She collected around $153,000 in death benefits for her husband's death and $36,000 in her boyfriend's death. ..... Witnesses from Turner's first trial testified that she had collected more than $140,000 in insurance benefits and $700 per month from her husband's police pension after he died. ..... Soon after Glenn's funeral, Turner collected nearly a quarter of a million dollars from Glenn's estate and from insurance proceeds and death benefits as the primary beneficiary under Glenn's insurance policies. ..... Turner, who had been incurring substantial debt prior to Thompson's death, collected over $30,000 as the beneficiary under Thompson's life insurance policy.

A Taiwanese woman named Lin Yuru, successively murdered her own mother, mother in law and husband in order to use their insurance money to pay off her gambling debts. 2008 - 2009 Madam Hou died at the scene and Lin subsequently received NT$5.06 million in insurance claims. ... That month, Lin also bought life insurance for her four-year-old son. .... Lin called for help after finding her mother-in-law dead in bed. She later received NT$7.43 million from insurers. .... Mr Liu died and Lin later claimed NT$4.75 million from insurers.

Catherine Flannagan and Margaret Higgins aka "Black Widows of Liverpool" killed at least one probably more October 2, 1883 The sisters were also suspected of poisoning Mrs. Higgins’s 10-year-old stepdaughter Mary and one of Mrs. Flannagan’s sons, John, 22. Each time there was a death they collected on the insurance money. .... That December the previously healthy 22-year-old died. His mother collected an insurance payout of £71 and John was buried with minimum fuss or effort.

Mrs. Anna Cunningham killed five 1918 - 1922 She collected the $1,000 insurance and the family moved to Gary. A year later a daughter, Isabelle, 28, died. She had been insured for $1,000 just five weeks before her death.

Martha Needle killed five 1885-94 Although Martha collected substantial sums of insurance money this was not the motive for her own family which was never determined ..... Martha later collected 100 pounds (2010:$40,000) life insurance on Mabel's death.

Herman Webster Mudgett aka "Dr. H. H. Holmes," killed more than twenty-seven people from 1885-1894 Disfiguring the corpses and claiming that the people had been accidentally killed, Mudgett collected insurance money from policies which he had taken out on each one. .... Within days, attorney Jeptha Howe filed a claim with the insurance company on behalf of Carrie Pietzel and collected the money. He kept $2,500 and Holmes took the remainder. ..... The fire destroyed the top floor. As usual, he had insured the building with several companies for a total of $25,000. An astute investigator noted the fire started in several places. After investigating Holmes, his report that Holmes tried to defraud the insurance companies did not pan out. Holmes was not charged and was free to go. However, he did not collect the insurance.

Albert Edward Horsley (born March 18, 1866 – died April 13, 1954), best-known by the pseudonym Harry Orchard, was a miner convicted of the 1905 political assassination of former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg. didn't kill for insuracne but did collect for other insurance scam and committed murder in separate incident. Seeking to run away with another woman, Horsley burned his cheese factory and collected the insurance money, thereby settling his debts.

Josephine Gray, known as “The Black Widow,” killed two or three people March 3, 1974 / November 9, 1990 / June 21, 1996 Despite being a suspect in this murder, Josephine Gray collected over $54,000 from Mr. Gray’s life insurance policies. ..... She collected $165,000 after deaths of 3 men .... After escaping prosecution for more than two decades by using threats of voodoo against potential witnesses, a woman who authorities said had a hand in the deaths of three lovers was convicted yesterday of fraudulently collecting the victims' life insurance benefits. .... Prosecutors said she collected $165,000 in insurance money after two husbands were shot to death in Montgomery County and a young boyfriend was found dead in Baltimore. ... She later killed Robert Gray in order to eliminate the only witness to the Stribbling murder and to collect even more insurance proceeds.

Martha Lowenstein Marek killed four from 1932-7 in Vienna, Austria Emil Marek had conspired with his wife Martha to defraud his insurers by getting Martha to chop off his leg in order that they could collect $30,000 in accident insurance he had taken out. Martha, however, was not very good at wielding the axe and it took 3 blows to sever the leg. The insurer's doctors were not convinced that it was an accident that had occurred while cutting down a tree as the Mareks claimed and therefore rejected their claim. .... A few weeks later, Martha’s 7-year-old daughter, Ingeborg, died of a mysterious ailment and Martha collected money on the child’s small life insurance policy.

Mary Ann Cotton killed at least one perhaps over twenty-one people between 1857-72 William's life was insured by the British and Prudential Insurance office and Mary Ann collected a payout of £35 on his death, equivalent to about half a year's wages for a manual labourer at the time. .... Once again, Mary Ann collected insurance money from her husband's death.

Betty Neumar killed at least one possibly more July 14, 1986 in NC Not arrested until 2008 She collected at least $20,000 in 1986 when Harold Gentry was shot to death in his home. A year earlier, she had collected $10,000 in life insurance when her son died.

Judy Ann Buenoano killed at least two or three people between 1971-83 in Florida, Colorado and Alabama PDF Following Goodyear's death in 1971, Buenoano collected the benefits from various life insurance policies on her husband's life totalling approximately $33,000. She also received $62,000 in dependency indemnity compensation from the Veterans Administration. When Bobby Joe Morris died, Buenoano again received insurance money from three separate policies on Morris' life totalling approximately $23,000. The house mortgage was also paid off. Buenoano owned life insurance on Gentry's life totalling $510,000 in benefits, and she was a 50% beneficiary under his will.
Wikipedia: Judy Buenoano

Mary Ellen Samuels killed two in California December 8, 1988 / June 27, 1989 At trial, the prosecution introduced evidence showing defendant collected on several insurance policies after Robert Samuels's death. The total amount of these policies was in excess of $240,000. .... Thus, here the prosecution was entitled to introduce evidence that defendant collected life insurance benefits and inherited property on the death of her estranged husband, because it is reasonable to infer that she knew she would be entitled to them when her husband died.

Mary Beth Harshbarger killed one September 14, 2006 Buchans Junction, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada There are reports that Mary Beth had increased her husband Mark’s life insurance not long before the hunting trip. Mary Beth collected on life insurance policies worth $550,000 (US). Mark Harshbarger’s family noted that despite collecting on the policies, Mary Beth failed to post her $200,000 bail.

Velma Ogden-Whitehead killed one June 23, 2006 Des Moines, King County, Washington, USA She sold two properties that were part of her husband's estate for a profit of $460,000 and collected life insurance and benefits from his employer that totaled more than $650,000, according to King County Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng.

Dr. Glennon Engleman killed seven or more from 1954-80 St. Louis, Missouri, USA Glennon Engleman (1963-1980) was a St. Louis dentist who killed 7 people for their life insurance and unpaid dentist bills. He used a variety of means, including car bombs and shooting. He collected the insurance by killing his former male patients and then wooing their widowed wives to give him money to invest for business purposes. Former female patients who didn't pay their bills were just killed. ..... After Halm's death, Miranda collected approximately $75,000 in insurance proceeds. In March 1977, Nicholas Miranda, Carmen Miranda's brother, paid Engleman $10,000 in cash as payment for his part in the scheme. ..... The government also produced as witnesses representatives of two insurance companies who testified that Frey's widow had collected on insurance policies after his death.

Sharon Elizabeth Kinne killed three from 1960-4 Missouri, USA / Mexico City, Mexico Kinne was convicted in October 1965 of the Mexican crimes and sentenced to ten years in prison. Escaped from the Mexican prison on December 7, 1969. Despite extensive manhunts, her whereabouts are unknown. ..... With the investigation into his death closed, James Kinne was buried and his wife collected on his life insurance policies, valued at about $29,000. ..... As soon as Sharon collected the insurance money from James' death, she raced out and bought a brand new blue Ford Thunderbird.

Anne Gates killed one or two people 1987/1978 Louisiana and Indiana Clevenger, then a sheriff’s investigator, said the 29-year-old autoworker had a $100,000 life insurance policy, and his wife collected the money.

Anna Marie Hahn killed five or more 1932-7 in Colorado and Ohio "While the fire caused minimal damage, Anna still managed to collect $300 from the insurance company. The other two fires both took place at the Hahn residence -- the first on June 2, 1935 and the second on May 20, 1936. Anna collected just over $2000 for both fires."

Marie Alexander Becker, killed ten or more 1932-1936 Belgium She gave him a lethal dose of Digitalis, collected on his life insurance and used the cash to open a smart dress shop.

Johann Otto Hoch killed fifteen or more 1890-1905 in Chicago Ill "Huff" cleaned out her $900 bank account, sold their house, collected $2500 in life insurance benefits -- and vanished. ..... He then collected on Caroline's life insurance, sold her house, cleaned out her bank accounts and disappeared. ..... Immediately after his release Hoch journeyed to Argos, Indiana, where he introduced himself to a brand-new widow, Mrs. Mary Schultz, as Albert Buschberg, a millionaire Chicago druggist. He married the widow, collected the $2,000 insurance policy on her late husband’s life, and prevailed upon the widow and her fifteen-year-old daughter, Nettie, to go back with him to Chicago where both mother and daughter disappeared, along with $1,500 in savings.

Sandra Camille (Powers) Bridewell suspected of killing two or more people but not convicted June 16, 1982 / December 11, 1985 Texas/Oklahoma, USA She collected the insurance on her husband's life, sold his practice, and began dating other wealthy men.

Stacey Castor killed one possibly two husbands and attempted to kill her daughter 2000/ August 20, 2005 NY
Stacey Castor killed two husbands, tried to murder own daughter and frame her for the deaths 03/19/2016 Widow Wallace calmly collected $50,000 in life insurance and moved on.

Blanche Taylor Moore killed one to four people 10/7/1986 NC Blanche collected a little fire insurance, investing the cash in a new mobile home. When fire razed the trailer a month later, she blamed that pervert again and collected another insurance check.

Robin Lee Row killed three February 10, 1992 in Idaho He says Robin Row collected $28,000 in life insurance from Keith's death.

Sante Kimes killed three with her son and collected on unrelated insurance scams In Sacramento she sets fire to her first house to collect insurance. She only destroyed the kitchen and received $10,000. Sante burns down Honolulu house, to collect insurance money. The firemen could tell it was arson but insurance still paid.

Steven David Catlin killed three 1976 / 1984 California/Nevada, USA Prosecutors presented evidence that Catlin had financial motives for killing the women—he was the beneficiary of life insurance policies on his wives and the sole beneficiary of his mother’s estate. Catlin, meanwhile, had acquired another fiancee, encountered on a visit to the hospital. His grief was tempered by her love -- and by the $57,000 he received from life insurance payments.

Joseph Lyle & Erik Galen Menendez killed parents August 20, 1989 In recognition of Jose's importance to LIVE, the company invested in a "key man" life insurance policy that would guarantee that if Jose died, the company could continue operating without worrying about going under. The policy was valued at $15 million. LIVE also purchased a "key man" personal policy for Jose's family that was valued at $5 million. ..... The brothers shopping sprees were funded by Jose's personal life insurance policy of $650,000.

Morris Bolber, Herman and Paul Petrillo killed 30-50 people 1932 - 1939 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA The gang embraced insurance agents and made highly successful use of the period's widespread cheap insurance policies, often taken out without medical examination (not required for policies under $500) or the knowledge of the principal concerned, who would subsequently meet an agonising death by arsenic, engineered by the spouse, possibly with intent, possibly in superstitious ignorance of their actions. This went on from 1932 until 1938, when the death in hospital of Ferdinando Alfonsi brought matters into the open, something that was bound to happen sooner or later, as the gang's activities proliferated.

Lyda Trueblood killed at least one possibly as much as six people 1915 - 1920 in Montana/Idaho, USA All 4 of Lyda's husbands had held a life insurance policy where they listed her as the beneficiary. Lyda Trueblood was able to collect over $7,000 over the years from the deaths of her first three husbands.

Robert Girts killed his wife To collect insurance money September 2, 1992 Ohio
Separately, Girts had a possible financial motive, as he collected life insurance money and was then able to invest in another funeral home PDF
Robert Girts: The Husband From Hell 12/26/2017 Upon Diane's death he had received $50,000 in life insurance proceeds. ..... On December 18, 2015, in a Cleveland court room, Robert Girts, in connection with the death of Diane Girts, pleaded guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter and insurance fraud. The judge sentenced him to 12 years but gave him credit for time already served. That meant that Mr. Girts would remain a free man. Case closed.

Amy A. Gilligan at least 5 victims possibly as many as forty-eight or more 1908 - 1916 James Archer died in 1910 of apparently natural causes. The official cause of death was Bright's disease, a generic term for kidney diseases. Amy had taken out an insurance policy on him a few weeks before his death, so she was able to continue running the Archer Home.
Killer Wives: 8 Most Infamous Black Widow Murderers 08/25/2016 Between 1911 and 1916, at least 48 people died while in Archer-Gilligan’s care – including Archer-Gilligan’s husband. .... police also discovered that she had taken out “sizable insurance policies” on her husband.

Man sued over $500K life insurance payout after murder-suicide 05/02/2016 A lawsuit claims a Baton Rouge man improperly collected a $500,000 payout from his business partner's life insurance policy after the partner gunned down his estranged wife and shot and killed himself in Connecticut last year.